In 1899 the brothers Henry and Armand Dufaux from Geneva,
Switzerland, designed a little four-stroke engine. This compact unit could
be bolted into the frame of any ordinary pushbike: The "Motosacoche"
-which approximately means "engine-bag"- was born! Very soon the
quality and practical utility of the invention became known even far beyond
the swiss territory.

Motosacoche A1, 1908, 214cc, a.i.o.e.

In 1905 the firm was given the legal structure of a "Societe
Anonyme" based at Rue Acacias, Geneve. The Dufaux brothers soon left
the company and concentrated on building airplanes. Gradually the engines
became bigger and more powerful, twin cylinders were produced and the initial
idea of a motorized pedal-bike was given up. The factory built complete
motorbikes under the "Motosacoche" label, but kept on selling
M.A.G. (Motosacoche/ Acacias/ Geneve)-engines to many well known manufacturers
in France, England, Germany, Austria and Italy. In France and Italy there
were even factories producing Motosacoche motorcycles under licence.

Motosacoche 2C7, 1914, 496cc, s.v.

Success in numberless racing events helped to create a
solid reputation on the tracks. M.A.G. engines played an important part in
Europe's motorcycling-scene, often compared with big names as J.A.P.! In
1913/14 the Matchless ohv-works-racers (more successful at Brooklands than
at the T.T.) were equipped with M.A.G. engines, as well as the French G.P.
winning Clement-Gladiator and Motosacoche. In the 1928 European championship
the Marchant-designed o.h.c. works-racers were ridden to victory by Walter
Handley in the 350 AND the 500 cc events!

Motosacoche A50 (works racer), 1928, o.h.c.

But most of Motosacoche's excellent reputation was based
on motorcycles for everyday-use. From the twenties until WW2 many 250, 350
and 500 singles (mostly of i.o.e. and o.h.v. layout) and V-twins from 500
to 1000 cc (most of them with i.o.e., the 850 had s.v.) provided long and
loyal service to their proud owners.

Motosacoche 304 Tourisme, 1927, 346cc, i.o.e.

Decline came in the thirties: Because of the general economic
crisis the "Jubilee"-models (planned for 1930, the silver jubilee
of the company) appeared about one year too late on a lethargic market.
On the racing tracks the superiority of the Nortons made it more and more
difficult for M.A.G. to win any important events. The enthusiasm had gone:
From 1932 until the war, there was no real evolution in the Motosacoche
range, besides a rather modest update of the once brilliant o.h.c. works-racers
and a rather heavy rear suspension on some tourist models.

Motosacoche Jubilée Sport, 1931, 498cc, o.h.v.

During WW2 many M.A.G.-engined motorcycles and side-cars
(usually with Motosacoche and Condor labels) helped the swiss army to protect
the small country from the menacing conflict.

After the war there was a first attempt to come back into
business with a motorbike, equipped with a 200 cc side-valve engine. This
somewhat unusual vehicle was designed by Dougal Marchant (again!) and presented
at the 1947 Geneva motor-show. It remained a prototype and never got produced.

Motosacoche (prototype), 1947, 200cc, s.v.

In 1953 Motosacoche gave it a last try. They bought some
german U.T. motorcycles (featuring a 250 o.h.c. twin, designed by the excentric
german engeneer Richard Küchen), sprayed them in their familiar khaki
colour and found out they had come too late anyway. Europe was hungry for
microcars, scooters and most of all CARS! By 1956 the last Motosacoche must
have been sold, and the firm kept on producing engines for farm-vehicles
and stationary use.

Motosacoche 212 twin, 1954, 247cc, o.h.c.

Engine identification:

Most of the 1920-40 M.A.G-engines can easily be identified
by the codes on the left side of the engine.

1C means one cylinder and 2C logically two cylinders. The
number-codes are usually: 10 = 250cc, 12 = 300cc, 14 = 350cc, 9 = 500cc
per cylinder. Thus a 2C12 engine must have the capacity of twice 300cc,
it actually turns out to be a 600cc V-twin.

After this number you will find a letter-code as C, CN,
E or K for an i.o.e. layout, or a F, G or H for an o.h.v. layout, to mention
only the most important ones. There might be a number after this letter,
giving the state of evolution.

The Jubilée-range shows 1C9L for 500 s.v., 1C9M for 500
o.h.v. and 85L for the 850 s.v. twin.

Works-racers and production-racers have specific codes.

Damaged blocks:

As the 500 o.h.v. M.A.G engines are quite
tall, many 1C9H crankcases are badly damaged at the bottom, due to rude
contact with uneven road surfaces. Try to find a 1C9K-block which is of
the same casting!

MAG 1C9H Sport, 1928-39, 498 cc, o.h.v.,20 hp

Lubrication:

After a period of hand-oilpumps the M.A.G engines became
more sophistically fed with oildrops being sucked in by the vacuum below
the up-going piston. In the twenties mechanically-operated simple and later
double oilpumps by Best&Lloyd and Pilgrim were used. Only the Jubilée-models
had closed oil-circuits, as well as most of the racers.

That means, most of the surviving M.A.G-engines are greased
with the rather doubtful "constant-loss" system.

Motosacoche 8HP Autosacoche, 1924, 996 cc, i.o.e.

Equipment:

Motosacoche design followed the leading british manufacturers
in general appearance as well as in many details.

In the twenties and thirties the firm was proud to mention
Terry saddles, Dunlop tyres, Brampton forks (Webb's for works- and some
production-racers), Timken bearings, AMAC and later AMAL carburettors and
twistgrips, Best&Lloyd and Pilgrim oilpumps, Renold's chains and John
Bull knee-grips. Early gear-boxes were of Enfield design, with two or three
primary-chains. Later Sturmey-Archer and Burman boxes were used, Hurth on
some models.

Made in Switzerland?! Well, at least the frames, tanks,
mud- and chainguards were certainly swiss-made. Most of the wheel-hubs too,
but the first drum-brakes were imported from Britain!

Only Bosch was good enough to provide the ignition-sparks,
swiss Scintilla on some late-thirties models. Early electric lighting was
swiss (Lucifer and others), from the mid-twenties Bosch and finally Scintilla
dynamos, lights and horns became standard until WW2.

Motosacoche 439 Tourisme Luxe, 1939, 498 cc, s.v.

Where and what to buy?

Of course, most of the M.A.G-engined Motorcycles can still
be found on the swiss market, mostly Motosacoches and Condors of around
1930, restored and unrestored.

As everybody seems to look for a bike with a 500 o.h.v.
single, you will rarely find a restored machine for less than 9000 Euro,
a complete, good restauration-project will cost about 3000-4000 Euro. An
i.o.e. single will be cheaper, i.o.e. twins are more difficult to find and
have at least the same price as an o.h.v. single. Motosacoches from 1900-1920
are getting rare and it is not easy to give a value. The post-war 250cc
twins (R. Küchen's o.h.c. design) are rare, but not really sought-after.

O.h.v. production-racers (C25, C35 and C50, D35 and D50)
are on about the same price-level as o.h.c. Nortons. The o.h.c. works-racers
litterally have no price, simply because they don't appear on the market!

The cheapest way to get a Motosacoche is certainly to buy
a Lyon-built, licensed french version. A restorable saddle-tank i.o.e. single
from Motosacoche/France can be yours for 1000-2000 Euro.

Be prepared for a quite expensive restoration, as there
are nearly no specific replica-parts produced for any Motosacoche!